Treachery
by MalllladeImaginaire
Summary: A story about an incident aboard the "Antelope" & how Growltiger lost his eye. (For more info about my OCs I recommend reading "The Antelope") The second part of my 'Terror of the Thames' series. xx


_"In South Australia I was born"_

Growltiger screwed his eyes shut and tried to ignore the singing coming from the small living area in the bow of the Antelope. "Would you like any more fish, Griddlebone?", he asked politely trying his best to smile sweetly at his date. It looked more like he was trying to chew a very hard toffee so he gave it up as a bad job and his face returned to it's usual half snarl, half smirk.

_"Heave away, haul away,"_ the rest of the crew joined in enthusiastically.

The singing made it impossible to hear the pretty white Persian's response. Angrily Growltiger opened his mouth to talk again.

_"In South Australia round Cape Horn,"_ the voice bellowed from below deck.

Growltiger practically gnashed his teeth. This was getting ridiculous. It wasn't even like they were doing any work. Why on earth did they need to sing shanties for no reason? Didn't they know he was tying to impress his date?

_"And we're bound for South Australia"_

By this point the captain would happily have forced every single member of his own crew to walk the plank. "Excuse me a minute, Griddlebone," he began.

_"Haul away you rolling kings"_

"As I was about to say before I was so rudely interrupted," the greyish-brow tom continued furiously, "I'll be back in a moment. I'm very sorry, it won't take long." He untucked the napkin which he had tucked into his collar in an attempt to look sophisticated and stood up, throwing the white square of linen to the deck as if it was somehow personally responsible for his potentially ruined date.

_"Heave away, haul away"_

Without sparing them so much as a second glance Growltiger stormed past Mohune and Smollett who were standing the anchor and cargo watch while the ship was in port. They exchanged glances and Smollett had a sudden coughing fit while Mohune had to shove a paw in his mouth to keep from laughing.

_"Haul away, you'll hear me sing"_

The captain thundered across the deck and yanked up the hatch in front of the main mast. If possible the singing actually seemed louder than the deafening volume it had sounded before. He had to resist the urge to cover his ears with his paws.

_"We're bound for South Australia"_

Climbing as fast as he could down the ladder into the small living space Growltiger began to go over possible punishments for his crew in his head. Nothing horrible enough sprang to mind. He'd have to think later, he decided.

_"As I walked out one morning fair"_

Finally, the master reached the living area. His crew were sprawled on the floor, surrounded by their beakers containing their ration of rum. A single candle was burning in the middle of the floor and a few old hunks of bread lay soaking in some of the mugs. Kainalu was lying upside-down in his hammock singing at full volume. The rest of the crew yelled along as loudly as they could at the appropriate moments in the song.

_"Heave away, haul..."_

The singing came to an abrupt end as they caught sight of Growltiger stood in their midst looking murderous. Kainalu almost fell out of his hammock in his hurry to turn the right way up again and Gethin accidentally knocked the candle over plunging them all into total darkness. Growltiger realised the hatch above him must have fallen shut so there wasn't even the starlight to see by. "Light that bloody candle again this instant!", he bellowed furiously. "And if you don't all want to be flogged to within an inch of your lives I suggest you stop that damned singing!"

"Yes, sir," Tumblebrutus mumbled hurriedly. He couldn't see them but the young tom guessed his crew mates were all looking rather shamefaced, their facial expressions probably ranging from uncomfortable through chagrined to mortified with a good amount of nervousness mixed in. Their captain was clearly not happy with them. Not happy at all. It was only when he was really angry with them or really drunk that he threatened them with a flogging and on those occasions it was best to keep as quiet as possible and try and stay out of trouble.

Meanwhile Gethin was still crashing around trying to find the candle. In the darkness he seemed to have managed to knock it even further away and it had, in fact, rolled into the far corner of the tiny room. The only sound in the blackness was that of his paws scrabbling over the rough wooden planks as he tried to locate the missing object. In the process he managed to knock over several of the beakers of rum and stand on Pierre who let out an outraged yelp. "I can't find the candle, sir", the young sailor eventually almost whispered. "It seems to have gone missing."

From the young Ordinary Seaman's tone Growltiger guessed he was rather upset and quite frightened at the thought of being punished yet again. Gethin still found both Growltiger himself and Grumbuskin highly intimidating probably because one or other of them was usually yelling at him for something he'd got wrong. At that precise moment in time, however, the captain felt absolutely no sympathy towards the young tom. He was trying to impress Griddlebone who had probably already been put off by the awful singing and being stuck in the hold with his idiotic crew was doing nothing to help the situation or improve his mood. "Don't give me excuses," Growltiger bellowed, his pent up fury finally getting the better of him. "Get me a light so I can get out of here. Now!", he roared and pounded his paw on he nearest object which happened to be the ladder.

_Finally, a way out of here. _Growltiger grabbed onto the ladder and began to climb. He was a second too slow to put a paw out and consequently cracked his head on the hatch with a dull thud. Angrily pushing it open and clambering out the captain glanced briefly back at his crew. The starlight shone dimly into the small cabin and showed them to be in complete disarray. Rum had been spilt everywhere, Kainalu had fallen out of his hammock, Karkinos was cursing noisily, Tumblebrutus was trying to help Gethin find the candle, Morgan was shouting at the others to be quiet, Pierre was trying to avoid getting trodden on again in the search for the missing candle and the candle itself had rolled into a corner in a puddle of spilt rum. Somewhat vindictively Growltiger slammed the hatch shut on them, plunging them back into complete and utter darkness. _That'll teach them to sing when I'm busy, _he thought nastily to himself and turned to head back over to Griddlebone, plastering a smile on his face.

"Sir?"

Growltiger stopped in his tracks and whirled round to face the unfortunate speaker. "What? What do you want?"

Mohune saluted smartly. "Sir, I just needed to let you know that we saw..."

Before he could finish the master interrupted furious: "You report anything you see to the officer of the watch, seaman. Now get out of my sight!" By now Growltiger's blood was positively boiling with rage. One date, just one date! But could he have just a few hours peace? No! Why was he surrounded by such idiotic imbeciles? Did he have to teach them their job now too? Why the hell was Mohune not reporting whatever it was to Grumbuskin? The idiot! Growltiger made a mental note to punish him too along with the others for his pure stupidity.

The black and red tom was not put off. "I don't know where he is, sir. He went off about an hour ago. As I was saying, sir, we saw..."

"Get. Out. Of. My. Sight!", Growltiger yelled. "I'm busy!" He turned and stomped away across the deck towards Griddlebone, leaving Mohune to shrug at Smollett and return to his position.

"Sorry about that," the grey-brown tom called out when he got close enough to her. "I hope they didn't disturb you too much." He sat down and tucked the napkin back into his collar. "Lovely evening, isn't it?" With a grand gesture Growltiger pointed up at the crystal-clear, navy blue sky spotted with thousands of tiny pricks of light. The moon was full and cast a beautiful silvery light over the scene below and now the singing had stopped the only sounds were the lapping of the water, the creaking of the rigging and the rustling of the trees in the gentle breeze.

Griddlebone raised her head and surveyed the scene with a serene and charmed expression on her beautiful face. '_Yeah, lovely'_, she thought to herself sarcastically, '_stuck on a stupid barge eating inedible food with only him for company. Just how I wanted to spend my evening.' _Out loud she said: "It's enchanting, Growltiger, dear." Her voice was clear and honey-sweet with a slightly melodic ring to it. A delighted smile played about her lips.

The captain looked extremely pleased with himself. '_Maybe not ruined after all. She's loving it', _he thought smugly. "Would you like any more fish?", he asked her, holding out a plate of fish cakes to her.

_'No!'_, Griddlebone shrieked internally, _'I most certainly do not want any fish! Everything around here stinks of fish, including him! I hate the smell!' _She smiled at her date and shook her head. "No thank you. I'll just have another cake." The white queen helped herself to a pretty pink iced cake. "So, Growltiger, do tell me all about your barge. I'm simply dying to know all about it. What is it you do most of the time? Transport cargo?" She tilted her head to one side and raised an eyebrow at him slightly.

That was all the prompting it took. Immediately the tom opposite her launched into a detailed description of his job, including interesting anecdotes, thrilling adventures he had had and a list of the dangers he faced on a day to day basis. From the way he was fluffing out his fur and preening ridiculously he clearly thought Griddlebone would be highly impressed by his exploits.

And she seemed to be. The petite queen gasped in all the right places, let out shrieks of horror and complemented him frequently on his skill and bravery. The ever so sweet smile never left her face for a second. Growltiger looked on delightedly as he spoke, sure she was highly impressed.

It was just lucky he couldn't read her thoughts. In reality Griddlebone was anything but impressed. _'I wish he would just shut up. He's so stupid and not even a good storyteller. How have I ended up on a date with someone who's intelligence is so ridiculously lacking? If it wasn't for the boss's orders I wouldn't even be here.' _Her frustration reached new heights as Growltiger launched into yet another story. _'Can't he see how boring he is? It's ludicrous! Are these stories supposed to impress me? They just make him look like a smug, one-dimensional git. I bet most of them are exaggerated anyway. There is no way he fought off an army of huge dogs single handed. 'The Terror of the Thames' Ha! At least now I know why. He's so terrifyingly boring! I can't wait for the signal to get out of here!' _She looked around her hopefully but saw nothing.

"Sir?", a pleasant voice interrupted.

Growltiger stopped abruptly mid story about a fascinating sea-battle he had been involved in and had come out of a hero, though he said so himself. "What is it this time?", he snarled.

The Persian queen looked up curiously. A neat black and white tom was stood in front of them a respectful distance away. He saluted Growltiger smartly and began: "Sir, there is..."

"Go away!", Growltiger bellowed. "I already told Mohune to clear off, now get out of here, Smollett. I don't want to see either of you anywhere near here again this evening, is that clear? If you see something you report it to the officer of the watch!" He was breathing heavily and his nostrils were flared dangerously. Sparks seemed to be flying from his dark, golden eyes.

_'He does have one thing going for him'_, Griddlebone thought charitably as she watched the exchange. _'His eyes really are lovely.'_

The bicoloured tom opened his mouth to speak again but seemed to think better of it and backed away with a formal "Yes, sir.", making his way back over to his fellow watchstander. Once again the couple was left alone.

"So, where was I?", Growltiger asked the sickly smile reappearing on his face as he turned back to the white queen. "Oh, yes. I was telling you about that sea battle. Quite a tricky little situation, you see, we were trapped between the cliffs and the enemy. Our angle to the wind was impossible. We were head-to-wind in the no-sail zone. They had us trapped. So what I did then was..."

At that moment the whole barge shuddered dangerously and an ominous thud disturbed the perfect quiet of the evening. Both cats jumped and looked around, Growltiger in dismay, Griddlebone in excitement. '_My signal!_'

The Persian queen hastily got to her feet. "It's rather late and that noise has me worried. I think I'll go now but you can always come and visit me tomorrow evening around seven o'clock if you like? I'll go and let you check whatever that was. Goodbye, Growltiger and thank you for a splendid evening. You really do have the most enchanting, lovely eyes. Goodnight!" With that she quickly kissed him on the cheek and hurried across the deck and down the gangplank before her date even had time to protest. As she walked off into the night she caught sight of several shadows making their way up the gangplank she'd just come down. '_Finally_', she thought to herself. '_What a relief!_' The queen didn't bother to look back again.

* * *

Back on board the Antelope Growltiger was spitting fire. "What the hell was that?", he roared, descending on the two watchstanders his eyes glittering maliciously. "Why did you not see anything?" He was stood inches away from them, saliva flying from his fangs and speckling their faces.

Mohune saluted. "We did, _sir_. You told us to go away, _sir_," he said putting an unnecessary emphasis on the word sir that immediately got Growltiger's back up.

"Don't you talk to me like that or so help me you'll regret..." The murderous captain was interrupted by another loud thud and the Antelope trembling so violently all three were thrown to the deck.

Then everything seemed to happen at once. One second the deck was empty with only the three toms trying to clamber back to their feet, the next it was swarming with dark shapes and the sounds of fighting echoed in the still night air.

As he tried to get himself back into an upright position, Growltiger scanned the deck cursing himself for not having more lamps lit. Impressing Griddlebone with the romantic moonlit dinner now seemed of little importance compared to the safety of his crew and vessel. It was too dark to make anything out properly, he couldn't tell friend from foe or even work out what was going on. Strategic planning was impossible, all he could do was leave his crew to it and hope they came out of the fight without serious injury.

With a roar, the enraged captain threw himself into the fray, lashing out at the nearest assailant and almost taking the unsuspecting tom's ear off. He was damned if he was going to let anyone take the Antelope! That would have to get past him first! "For the Antelope!", he bellowed and brought his paws smashing down on the nearest skull. The attacker fell to the ground with a moan but before he even hit the deck Growltiger had already pounded past him towards the struggling shapes around the main mast.

The rest of the crew were putting up an equally heroic fight against frankly overwhelming odds. They had all rushed out of their tiny cabin only to be confronted by a hoard of masked shapes charging towards them. A small group of them had clustered round the main mast and were trying to defend their position, but none of them were properly armed and they were all completely unprepared for a fight. It wasn't going well and slowly they were beginning to lose ground.

Karkinos was in his element using his claws to slash at anything that came within his reach or hitting out with an improvised cudgel made of one of the battens he had torn from it's usual place and was wielding with deadly skill and accuracy. He had positioned himself with his back to the main mast and a broad grin played about his lips. Blood oozed down the side of his face but he paid it no attention.

Pierre was next to him but frankly the rotund tom was more of a hindrance than a help. His enthusiasm and commitment were beyond doubt, it was his aim and skill that were the problem. Armed with a large ladle, he was swinging wildly at the oncoming mass and shouting curses and profanities at them in French, which they luckily didn't seem to understand. Approximately every tenth hit actually found it's mark, the others he either missed, hit the mast or the ladle collided painfully with a crew mate's head.

As the blue and white tom drew his arms back to swing the ladle again, Smollett ducked under it, coming forwards from where he had fallen next to Growltiger. In his paw he clutched a screwdriver which he rammed forwards into the stomach of a large, brown tom who had been on the verge of bringing his cutlass down on the back of Karkinos' head. The tom in question gurgled and stumbled backwards, tripping several of the other shadowy figures. Smollett turned to the Ordinary Seaman next to him. "Be careful, Karkinos," he yelled over the shouting, moaning and clattering of weapons.

The younger tom just grinned at him and smashed his improvised club across the ribs of the nearest attacker. "I know what I'm doing," he shouted back.

Smollett was prevented from responding by a huge white tom flinging himself at his head with an ear-splitting battle cry. The back and white tom ducked but not quite quickly enough. The larger toms claws raked across his shoulder, drawing an agonized gasp from the sailor and making him drop the weapon he was clutching, his injured arm no longer able to grip properly. Blood welled from the gashes and began to run down his chest.

Pressing his advantage the white cat sprang again, his claws aimed this time at Smollett's unprotected throat. The Able Seaman let out a cry and dropped to the deck in a vain attempt to avoid the oncoming attack. As he fell, he tried to roll away to one side. Again, he was just a second too slow. The assailant saw what he was attempting and changed the direction of his spring, landing with as much force as he could muster on the sailor's chest.

Smollett let out a groan as all the air was knocked from his lungs and he saw stars dancing before his eyes. The world seemed to narrow and go black, the stars slowly fading away as he felt strong paws pressing on his windpipe, cutting off his air. With all the strength he could muster, the tom kicked and struggled, clawing at the paws around his throat but to no avail. His muscles seemed to be giving up, as if he were stuck in treacle everything moved too slowly and his oxygen-starved brain refused to work properly.

Suddenly the pressure vanished and a warm, thick liquid spattered his face. Gasping for air, Smollett rolled over in time to see, albeit very blurredly, a white shape be thrown overboard, it's fur stained red. Choking and retching, he reached up to wipe his face, his paws coming away scarlet.

Strong paws pulled him to his feet and Karkinos' face swam into view. "Be careful", the younger tom crowed, imitating Smollett's voice perfectly.

If the black and white tom hadn't been half strangled and unable to use one arm, he would have hit his friend. As it was, he contented himself with swearing at the reddish-brown tom and allowing himself to be pushed backwards against the mast, behind the others, slowly slipping down the smooth wood until he came to rest on the deck and closed his eyes, trying to block out the noises of the fight.

Above him, the battle raged on. The whole crew was by now assembled in a circle round the mast. Kainalu had a cutlass clutched in one paw and was stabbing and slicing at the enemy, beside him Gethin was using his teeth and claws and a fair amount of wrestling, having lost the lamp he had been using as a weapon early on in the fight. Karkinos and Pierre were still positioned in from of Smollett, Tumblebrutus was beside them calling out encouragements to his crew mates in between opponents and Morgan and Mohune were round the other side of the mast. All of them were being slowly pushed back, their circle getting tighter until they were shoulder to shoulder and almost stepping on the injured Smollett.

And still the enemy came. There seemed to be a never-ending amount of attackers, no matter how many were killed or injured more came forwards to take their place, pressing in, suffocating the small group of cats clustered around the Antelope's main mast. By now the deck was slick with blood and sticky underfoot. The stench of blood and worse, made the air smell metallic and rotten, the stench was almost unbearable.

Only Growltiger was not amongst the group by the mast. He had been slower getting up than Mohune and Smollett when they had first been knocked to the deck and was consequently forced to fight his way back to his crew. Luckily for him the main attack was concentrated on them and he managed to fight his way towards his crew almost unharmed. From where he was on the Antelope's small aftercastle he could see them slowly losing the fight. Most of them were injured and they had retreated until they were all backed up against the mast. Their strength seemed to be running out. As he watched, Growltiger saw Kainalu fall, a dagger embedded in his side. Gethin jumped in front of him, attempting to protect his injured friend but he too seemed to be struggling. This was not a fight they were going to win. Growltiger gritted his teeth and prepared to join his crew. If they were all going to die, he might as well die with them.

But before he could make a move, almost as suddenly as the attack had started it stopped. One second his crew seemed on the verge of being overwhelmed, the next the enemies were gone, vanished into the night. The deck was empty save for a couple of unmoving shapes and the sailors gathered in their little group. The night was still and quiet, except for the sound of the water and the moans of the injured. Only the smell of battle lingered.

Suspiciously the captain looked around. The assailants had been on the verge of winning, his crew were practically beaten. Why had they turned back? Where had they gone? Carefully he stared into the night, trying to make out anything that might give him a clue. Were they planning some kind of ambush? But that couldn't be right, they didn't need to. They had already vanquished his crew, it would only have taken a matter of minutes to finish them off. Confused, Growltiger strained his eyes into the darkness. All was quiet. Too quiet. Something was still wrong.

Just as he decided this, Growltiger heard a whining, rattling noise from above him followed by snapping and a vicious cracking sound. He whirled round to see what had happened. Something, he guessed chain-shot, had smashed through the Antelope's mizzen and sent the mast, complete with rigging and sail smashing down towards the deck. For a brief second, Growltiger's eyes widened in horror and he opened his mouth to call out to his crew. "All hands, dow...!" The end of 'down' was cut off abruptly with a yell of pain as the full weight of the mast crashed down onto the captain and everything around him went black.

* * *

Growltiger awoke groggily. He had no idea where he was but the world around him seemed to be rocking uncomfortably and it smelt of something he couldn't quite identify. His head was pounding and his eyelids seemed to be made of lead, making it impossible to open them. Agony was searing through his face and he felt like he was about to vomit. Groaning feebly the master of the Antelope screwed his eyes shut and wished he could slip back into unconsciousness. Being awake was just pure pain, fogging his mind making it impossible to think. Through the fog he could vaguely make out half-familiar voices whispering.

"What do we do with it?"

"How should I know? Put it back?"

"Put it back? Where would this stringy bit go?"

"Don't touch that, Gethin, you might damage something."

"I say we put it back. Maybe he wouldn't even notice it was missing."

"Don't be an idiot. I wish Grumbuskin was here, he'd know what to do."

"Why would he?"

"Well, he'd be able to tell us what to do and then it wouldn't be up to us."

"Fair point."

"I say we vote. All those in favour of putting it back where it came from say aye."

"Aye."

"I'm not sure. I remember my mother saying once... Oops!"

"You bloody well dropped it, Gethin!"

"It's not my fault, it's slippery."

"Quick, get it back!"

"Where did it go?"

"Find it!"

"Over there! Grab it!"

"It's rolled off."

"Be careful, don't step on it!"

"I'm not an idiot."

"Got it!"

"Well we can't put it back now! Look at it, it's covered in fluff!"

"Couldn't we just dust it off?"

"Try it then. See if you can get the fluff off."

"Damn! Now look what you've done. It's burst now!"

"It's all over my paws!"

"Well who's fault is that?"

"You told me to dust it off."

"Yes, dust it off. Did I say squash it?"

"Shut up, both of you."

"What are we going to tell the captain?"

"I say we leave that to Brutus."

"Why me?"

"You're the bosun."

"And? Where in my duties does it say 'must inform the captain in the eventuality of his eye being poked out and then squashed by a member of the crew'?"

"That's not part of our job either."

"That's right."

"I'm not doing it."

"You're our foreman, aren't you?"

"Yes, but..."

"That's settled then."

"Hang on a second, no it isn't!"

"Yes, it is. Bad luck, Brutus."

"Are you sure we couldn't repair it?"

"It's goo all over Karkinos' paws. How d'you want us to repair it?"

"Think of something!"

"Or what?"

The voices continued quietly. Slowly Growltiger's sense of hearing was coming back and his confused brain was catching up with everything he'd heard. The voices were his crew and they didn't want to tell him something. Something important. Something they'd broken. His battered head felt like exploding. He really wasn't up to thinking yet. What if the Antelope had been damaged or worse sunk? No, that wasn't right. He was swaying, he must be on board the Antelope. So what had they damaged? Something slimy and squashable... Growltiger's head pounded. His brain wasn't working properly and seemed to be going impossibly slowly. Something slimy and squashable. Something of his he'd lost. Something he'd be angry about losing.

In a flash his tired, confused brain put two and two together. The pain in his face, the strange object he'd lost, his inability to open his eyes and now he thought about it he could feel the scratchy material bound around half his face.

With what was supposed to be a roar but came out as more of a choked moan the captain attempted to sit up and failed miserably, falling feebly back onto his pillows. The voices above him let out startled cries and went silent. The only sound was the water lapping against the barge and the sound of paws shuffling awkwardly on wooden planks.

"What did you say?", Growltiger attempted to shout. The actual volume was more like a whisper but his crew got the message and shifted even more uncomfortably. "Speak, damn you!", he croaked pathetically.

Tumblebrutus gulped as Mohune shoved him hard in the back. "Say something," the black and red tom hissed.

"I'm going to!", the young Jellicle hissed back emphatically. He turned back to Growltiger who had just about managed to open his good eye and was attempting to glare up at his bosun. "Sir, in the fight, sir, you were injured and, well, you were knocked out, sir."

"I can feel that!", Growltiger hissed, "what happened to my face, damn you?!" He ran a paw over the bandage and winced painfully.

The white and brown tom mumbled something under his breath and stared at his paws. The rest of the crew had backed away as far as was possible in the confined space and were twiddling their paws nervously trying not to look at anyone.

"Speak up!", the captain roared as loudly as his pounding head and aching throat would allow.

"You were hit in the face by one of the lines when it snapped, sir. When we came to find you, sir, you were covered in blood and your eye was..." He paused helplessly looking for the right words. "...badly damaged, sir. It sort of fell out and we had no idea what to do, sir."

His eye! Growltiger let out a deep growl. The incompetents! He has lost an eye because of them! And Griddlebone has just commented on how lovely his eyes were! "You complete idiots!", he howled, trying to sit up but the headache worsened drastically when he moved and he sank back down with a moan. Punishing his crew would have to wait, he was in no fit state to move. And when he was able to get up, the captain decided, the first thing he was going to do was get hold of a ship's surgeon and maybe some more hands, just in case whoever had attacked them came back for a second try. They were undermanned anyway, so it couldn't hurt. With a moan he let his head fall back on the pillow and closed his remaining eye. What he needed right now was sleep. Everything else could wait until morning.


End file.
